Romania ranks 56th in the World Bank top of countries to do business in, down two positions from last year, according to the most recent Doing Business Report. Romania was outranked by countries like Botswana, Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Kyrgyz Republic. The ranking included 183 countries in the world and was created based on the ease of doing business in those countries. In the past 5 years about 85 percent of economies made it easier to do business, found the report.

Romania is among the countries which improved the most in dealing with construction permits. However, the country is among those where the highest number of tax payments is required throughout the year – 113 payments. Only Ukraine has a higher number of required tax payments a year – 135. Sweden has only two payments and China, only three.

Romania established special pre-insolvency procedures in 2010 for distressed companies trying to avoid bankruptcy, the report writes.

It takes seven procedures and up to 244 days in Romania to get electricity, similarly to Pakistan and Nigeria. In Sweden, it takes three procedures and 52 days to get electricity.

Get the entire Doing Business 2011 report here.

editor@romania-insider.com